Crooken

/ˈkrʊkən/ verb

Definition

An archaic or dialectal past participle of 'crook,' meaning to bend or curve something; also possibly meaning to become crooked.

Etymology

From crook as a verb, with the archaic -en suffix for past participles (seen also in 'broken,' 'stolen'), representing an older form of English that used -en more widely.

Kelly Says

Crooken is almost extinct, but it shows English's historical -en endings—modern English has largely replaced these with -ed, so 'crooked' is now both the adjective and the past tense.

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